posted
Several years ago-prior to diagnosis, I had a lot of intestinal cramping, stomach pains and problems with bowel movements. I would not have a bowel movement for up to 5 days, followed by very loose stools that would have me running to the bathroom every 15 minutes over the course of a few hours.
It felt as if the food would sit inside me and ferment. Horrible, horrible headaches would accompany these episodes. This went on for about a year and then went away-only to be replaced by other horrific symptoms of course.
Fast forward three years and I am once again having the same intestinal spasming. I am not constipated ie. hard stools, it's just that nothing, I mean nothing moves-kinda like the muscles that move the food along are not working.
I can't tell you how uncomfortable this is after several days. Does anyone else experience this? Any ideas on how to get the food to move along more quickly? Laxatives don't work at all.
Appreciate any suggestions or input from anyone else that has this symptom.
Diana
Posts: 202 | From vancouver, canada | Registered: Jun 2005
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Diana
Posts: 202 | From vancouver, canada | Registered: Jun 2005
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trails
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1620
posted
yes---gut motility does seem to be a very big issue with lyme and bart. Many folks discuss this and have much suffering as a result of it.
For me this issue was because of endometriosis and adhesions. It took 4 years to figure out. The adhesions had pulled on my colon and kinked it. Adhesions can form in your gut even if you have never had surgery. They cant be seen by any scan or detected by any test, but can be seen only in surgery.
My problems have been GREATLY improved with endo removal and proper adhesion removal along with adhesive barriers during surgery.
I dont know if this could be adding to your own situation, I just know it was for me.
It is a most uncomfortable and depressing problem, but you arent alone.
Posts: 1950 | From New Mexico | Registered: Sep 2001
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tdtid
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10276
posted
I can definitely relate. I got clogged right off the bat in my beginning of treatment and tried all the things listed above, ie Fiber, Vit C and nothing was working.
My LLMD told me to then try Magnesium Citrate and again, NOTHING. I was getting sicker and sicker and had to resort to enemas, but that was only a temporary fix.
In desperation, I was given two tablespoons of liquid NF CalMag (500 mg each) daily. It tastes like marshmellows but for whatever reason, it got me going many times a day until I was out of this mess.
I don't know if it would work for everyone and this is the naturopathic way which if given in smaller doses is just some calcium and magnesium.
What is your LLMD telling you to do because I was so darn ill as the die off just builds up. What a world of difference it made.
Good luck to you.
Cathy
-------------------- "To Dream The Impossible Dream" Man of La Mancha Posts: 2638 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Oct 2006
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posted
That's the link I was going to give you [Bev's]...great info!
I would also seriously consider eliminating gluten from your diet and see how you feel. I had problems such as yours for years, then it all got really bad this summer.
Went TOTALLY gluten free and felt MUCH better within a week. I'm also eliminating soy, corn, and dairy as much as is humanly possible.
Read this:
www.dogtorj.net [yes, he's a veterinarian....read some of his stuff! You'll be amazed at the info that applies to all living beings who eat grains and dairy!]
posted
My first symptom was this completely stoped intestional problem. Back pain and couldn't go. When I could go, it was soft and incomplete. Your right .... it just does not work.
Posts: 258 | From Washington State | Registered: Nov 2005
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luvs2ride
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8090
posted
Let Food Be Your Medicine and Medicine Be Your Food by Hypocrates .
What we eat is SO IMPORTANT to our health and our ability to heal. There are many opinions and posts about how to do this. My doctor recommends a Mediterrain diet. He has recommended several cookbooks. If anyone would like a list, please PM me and I will be happy to look them up for you.
So far, I am doing well by eating only whole foods (things that grew that way). That includes lean meats. No processed foods and no sugar.
I had an ALCAT food allergy test done and I avoid the foods to which I was reactive. I also had colonics done, cleaned parasites from my system and I am chelating metals. All this is an attempt to clean up my insides and reduce the burdens on my immune system.
See this lymenet post for more info on cleaning your innards.
-------------------- When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, there will be Peace. Posts: 3038 | From america | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
I have much the same problem. As I always put it "food goes in, doesn't come out again". My stomach can get so distended I could sit cross-legged and do a Buddha impersonation... which for a six-foot tall skinny white guy is an achievement.
Nothing helps. No laxative on earth makes a difference. Not magnesium, or senna, or lactulose (awful, made my symptoms flare up like crazy). Industrial strength laxatives like Laxoberal etc only just have an effect, but it takes a day longer than it should, and I'm incredibly bloated again immediately after.
Docs didn't believe me, thought I just needed to "drink more water, eat more fibre". Nuts. I've never had an issue with my digestion in 40 years, could always eat any damn thing I liked, no problem. Now I'm on the healthiest diet imaginable and still ludicrously ill.
I had every GI investigation known to man, some three times over, and nothing was ever found to be wrong. The docs refused to do a laparoscopy to investigate further though (this all started after an abdominal injury, which is still very painful), were happy to just leave me in agony. US docs for you I guess - unless the patient is actually dying, never do anything invasive in case the patient sues.
The one thing that did help - and I'm not necessarily recommending it for Lyme sufferers - was hydrocortisone. Over the first three weeks of taking 20mg a day (prescribed when docs finally discovered my adrenal glands were just not working) my guts slowly started functioning relatively normally. Some glorious moments - imagine how it feels when you haven't "been" for a year!
But it didn't last, and slowly things jammed up again. It only seemed to get the colon functioning, but food still backed up in my small intestine (its amazing how you can become aware of different parts of your digestive system when you go thru this. Until a year ago, I didn't know the difference between my stomach, small, large intestine... didn't even know where my liver was. But then, who cared...? I was never truly ill a day in my life up until this happened.)
I'm off the hydrocortisone now (because of the issues with steroids and lyme), and things are back to the horrible state they were in over the summer.
Oh, the other thing that might have worked recently is Amoxicillin! I can't be sure, but it certainly seemed to have a very beneficial effect on several things. Only problem is that I can't use it to combat Lyme because we can't get Probenecid here in the UK.
But I feel your pain. Literally. You're not alone.
P
Posts: 19 | From London | Registered: Dec 2006
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everyones suggestions are very helpful. sipping green tea as we speak.
am taking a milk thistle/dandelion herbal capsule. is this as good as the tea bags and drops?
it's nice to know others are on such low doses. i thought i was the herxing queen. Dr M.says "low and slow". sometimes the herxing is worse than the lyme symptoms
truthfully, i am better. i can get up in the morning, get dressed, let the chickens out and sit at the computer. 6 months ago i couldn't do any of these things.
just have to keep up the hope. Posts: 76 | From Kalispell, Montana | Registered: Dec 2006
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posted
I have had so many gut problems from the beginning before I even started treatment...then treatment with abx helped in some ways (nerves) and hurt in others (wiping out the beneficial bacteria).
I have started doing a parasite cleanse and let me tell you things have been a lot better.
Antibiotics set us up for an envirnoment that parasites love some have said...
I would do a little research in this arena.
Good luck, I know how NOT fun this issue is.
-------------------- �Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right.� - Ezre Taft Benson Posts: 655 | From NC, Exit 88 on the Deer SuperHighway | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
I think I have found the answer to my own question..magnesium citrate. It does not appear to be because of the laxative effect.. I am pretty sure it helps with the muscles and contractions -to help the food move along.
I strongly recommend anyone that suffers from this problem to give it a try.
Diana
Posts: 202 | From vancouver, canada | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
Drinking ultra mangosteen juice(with lots of water) works beautifully -- it cleans out the intestines. Along with cleaning everything else too, I think. I mean, my sinuses ran, my gum bleeding stopped, etc.
Posts: 13171 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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tdtid
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10276
posted
Diana,
Glad you got some relief from Magnesium Citrate. As I mentioned in my first post here, that was the very first thing my LLND told me to try.
For me, it didn't work, but I was so backed up, I think I needed something strong to get the process started and then perhaps the Mag Citrate on a regular basis would have been helpful.
I'm in more of a regular state now myself but have tried so many different things, it's hard to know which one was actually the "magic bullet".
Hope you continue to have success with this protocol.
Cathy
-------------------- "To Dream The Impossible Dream" Man of La Mancha Posts: 2638 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Oct 2006
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